Flowers
by Liris
Summary: Fairies are turning up dead on the surface. The People have another arch-enemy on their hands, but this time they don't want to bargain. Story is better than summary, full explanation inside. T for violence, H/A pairing.
1. Winged Seeds

Winged Seeds

This story requires some explanation before I launch into it. Firstly, the name 'Flowers' has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. It merely means that each chapter is named after a certain type of flower or plant, due to the meaning behind that plant's name. Some meanings everyone knows, for example red roses mean love. Some, however, are more obtuse, so if you wish to see what each chapter title refers to, PM me, and I'll send you the address. The system won't let me put it on here.

Also, this story will contain lots of violence right from the start. It's graphic, so please, if you don't like that, don't read it.

Blanket Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, apart from a couple of OC's. I keep forgetting to write this, so this will (hopefully) cover the entire story.

Thanks to Elpanguino, who's betaing this for me. You rock!

As I said, before, it is rated T for a reason, but if you think the rating needs to be raised, let me know. And now, after an author note that hopefully didn't put anybody off, here is the story.

Enjoy!


	2. Black Rose

Black Rose

The elf shifted the huge gun under his arm to a more comfortable position. It was of human manufacture, so the barrel was almost as long as he was tall. It was heavy too, and he kept dropping it onto his foot. His magic had long since run out, so he was limping slightly from the repeated impacts; a disability that was not helping him to be stealthy. And that could prove fatal.

He winced each time his left foot touched the ground, but he forced himself to continue his half-run through the woods. He dodged between trees, jumping over stray twigs and roots. He knew he was making more noise than was safe, but at least this way he had a chance. If he got far enough away, maybe he could escape. Then, he would be free to drop this human weapon and limp away as fast as his injured feet could carry him. Faster than he was moving at the moment, of that he was sure. The gun weighed him down, but he dared not leave it behind. It was his only weapon, his only defence against his pursuers.

Behind him, a loud crack rent the air. They were gaining on him. They had longer legs than he did, and they knew these woods. He was semi-lame, and burdened by fear and a gun that weighed almost as much as he did. There was no chance of him getting away. Still, he was determined to try. He would not stand there and allow them to shoot him; if he was going down, he wasn't going to make it easy for them. He had the gun; he could at least take a few of them with him. If he could actually pull the trigger, and avoid being decapitated by the recoil, that is.

He paused as one of his pursuers swore. If he listened, he could actually hear them breathing. There was no way he was going to escape; they'd known that when they made him the offer. _Get five miles away from the property, and we'll let you go. We'll even give you a three minute head start. It's a sporting chance._ He snorted. Yeah, right.

If he continued to run, would he make it outside the limit? How would he even know? They would probably shoot him anyway, five miles away or not. He turned around and pulled the gun in to his shoulder, ready to shoot anything that moved. He would not die from being shot in the back whilst running away. If he was going, he would go with dignity, fighting. Not running away like a coward.

A movement to his left caught his eye. Sunlight glinted off something silver. A gun. He brought his weapon around, with not a little difficulty, and fired it. The recoil nearly dislocated his shoulder, and caused him to put his full weight on his left foot. His ankle gave way. He fell to the floor, losing the gun in the process, and by the time he'd hauled himself to his elbows two more of his pursuers had found him. Both of them had a gun pointed at his head. He glared at them, baring his tiny teeth in a snarl. At one point, they would have found that amusing, but no longer. The nearest of the two knelt in front of the elf and shoved her gun under his chin.

"You killed Robbie" she said, hatred resonating in her every syllable. The elf tilted his head back, partly to get away from the gun barrel, and partly to look the woman in the eyes. She was human, as were all his pursuers, and stunningly pretty. Wealthy too, judging by the fur scarf around her neck. Her eyes were a strange mix of blue and black; the colour of the sea in a storm, and about as friendly. She moved the gun to the elf's chest and pressed it against his ribs, directly over his heart.

"You're going to pay for that" she hissed, voice low and dangerous. He spat in her face. She jerked back, wiping at the moisture as though it were burning her. The other pursuer took her place, leaning back just far enough to be out of spitting distance. He needn't have bothered. That one action had used up all the moisture in the elf's mouth. The human pressed his weapon into the elf's stomach and grinned.

"Robbie was right. This is fun."

He pulled the trigger. The elf screamed and fell back to the soil, writhing in agony. The ground beneath him turned dark with blood. The human stood, admiring his handiwork.

"Julie, do you want a go?"

He turned to the woman with the fur scarf. She moved in close to the dying elf and shot him again. The bullet tore into his torso, and he gurgled and lay still. The man bent down and felt at the creature's throat.

"Nothing. It's dead."

The woman nodded coldly.

"Good. One less of them in the world."

The man put his arm round her shoulders and led her away.

"It's almost six miles to the house from here, you know. It got a lot further than the others."

Julie looked at him.

"It got outside the limit?"

The man nodded.

"Why? Should we have let it go?"

Julie smiled and leaned into him.

"No. I think we should extend the limit though, in case the next one can tell distance. Wouldn't do to let them think we cheated, would it Henry?"

Henry ran his fingers through her long red hair. It was soft, and smelled like jasmine, despite the trek through the woods.

"No, my dear. That wouldn't do at all."


	3. Zinnia

Zinnia

Trouble Kelp sat behind his desk, frowning at the email he'd just received. This couldn't be right. He picked up his communicator and called Foaly. The centaur answered with a whinny.

"Yes, Trubs? We do have internal intercom, you know. There's no need to run up a phone bill."

"Relax, Foaly, I didn't reverse charge it. I'm not Holly. And don't call me Trubs. It's Commander, remember?"

Foaly sighed.

"Yes, _Commander_. Did you want something, or do you just enjoy the sound of my voice?"

"You are quite possibly the only person who enjoys that, Foaly. And yes, I did want something. Check the work records of Major Evergreen, would you? The last two weeks, to be precise."

Trouble heard keys being tapped, and then Foaly spoke again.

"He hasn't signed in at all, and he's got no leave requests in. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"No, but it tallies with what IA has just sent me."

Trouble could imagine Foaly frowning.

"Why did they send it to you? Evergreen's nothing to do with Recon. Last I heard he was in charge of the recruits in the Academy. Hang on... yeah, that's right. After his run-in with Root's brother, he couldn't do Recon anymore. Something to do with the serum they gave him, he keeps having blackouts."

Trouble sighed and reread the email.

"They sent it to me because his record is otherwise clean. As in, it squeaks. They're treating it as either a rogue officer..."

"Ridiculous" scoffed Foaly. "Those gnomes wouldn't know a rogue officer if it shot them in the backside. They just want to cause trouble, stir things up."

"...or an abduction" continued Trouble, ignoring Foaly's outburst. If you acknowledged them, you'd get an hour-long lecture on the ways of the world and how it wasn't like this seven hundred years ago. "Either way, Recon gets to look for him."

Foaly opened up a new screen on his computer.

"Captain Vein is signed on, as is Frond and your brother. You want me to brief one of them?"

Trouble signed and kneaded his temples.

"I wouldn't trust Grub to find a stink worm in a sock, let alone a missing elf. And as for Frond – remember her last solo mission?"

Foaly winced. She'd been put to work guarding the Police Plaza cells, of which only one was occupied. The sprite in residence was drunk, and close to passing out. One of the more competent officers had almost hit him with an LEP van when the sprite flew into the road without looking, and couldn't get anything coherent out of him, so had shoved him in a cell to sober up. The sprite had then decided that he wanted to go home, and had somehow contrived to lock Frond in his cell whilst he left the building. She had seemed more concerned about her chipped nail varnish than the escapee.

Trouble shook his head.

"Out of the three, Vein is the only one I would trust to find his way to the surface unaided. Call him, will you? Oh and where is Hol...Captain Short? She's supposed to be working tonight."

Foaly pulled up Section Eight records.

"She's off doing something with Number One, apparently. Sorry, Trubs. I guess Vinyaya gets priority."

Trouble gritted his teeth.

"Foaly, I swear. If you call me Trubs one more time, I'll slash your budget for the next century."

He hung up. Foaly whinnied, offended. He hated budget threats.

* * *

"Another body has been found, this time near Nice. It is believed to be the remains of Ashley Grand, who disappeared three weeks ago. This puts the body count up to five. This reporter wants to know, when is the LEP going to step in and put a stop to this depravity?"

Vinyaya made a noise of disgust and switched the television off.

"You see our problem, Captain."

Holly nodded, somewhat sickened by the images shown during the report. School photographs of the young Ashley had flashed up, followed by an artist's interpretation of the scene at Tara. Not only was it completely inappropriate, it was inaccurate. Holly knew for a fact that the bodies were not lying in a pool of blood, nor did their eyes stare emptily at the sky. The heads had not been found, a fact that had not as of yet made it into the press.

"What do you want me to do about it? Unless you want me to go beat up the reporters, there's not much that's going to stop them sensationalising this story. And you've already got three officers looking into it. I don't see what help I can give you."

Vinyaya sat opposite Holly and stared at her mismatched eyes. Holly sat upright as she realised what was going on.

"You want Fowl's help."

Vinyaya nodded.

"We've done as much as we can from here. Our officers are chasing their own tails. Without some sort of outside input, there's not much more we can do. Whoever's doing this is smart – they change not only area, but country each time. There's no apparent link between the victims, other than their species, and all the bodies are left at holy sites. We need to put a stop to this, Short, and fast. If that means involving a civilian in a Section Eight inquiry, then so be it."

"Why not just ask Foaly? He's got all the technology down here, plus he's worked with you before. He could be just as much help as Artemis."

Vinyaya sighed and pulled her long silver hair into a bun.

"Foaly's signed a new contract with Kelp. He's officially part of the LEP, and as such, has to tell Kelp anything he asks for. Fowl has no allegiances, except maybe to you. This is top secret, you understand?"

Holly nodded slowly.

"What do you need from him?"

"Surveillance, his contacts, everything he can give us. Promise him all of Haven if you have to, just get his help."

Holly nodded again, and stood.

"When's the next flare?"

Vinyaya's sombre expression gave way to a grin.

"Oh, you're not taking a pod, Captain. There is to be no trace of these dealings. Number One?"

She called the last over her shoulder. The imp in question entered the office, grinning widely at the two elves.

"Salutations, my friends!"

Vinyaya cut him off before he could continue.

"Do you know what you need to do?"

He nodded. Holly looked from the imp to Vinyaya.

"What's going on?"

Number One moved to her side and gripped her arm tightly.

"Remember when we moved Hybras?"

She nodded warily. He grinned.

"Well, this is absolutely nothing like that. Hold on tight!"


End file.
